Citing links to the Chinese Communist Party, Britan revoked China’s state TV channel of its license to broadcast Thursday.
Ofcom, a British communications regulator, said it yanked the license of China Global Television Network (CGTN), which broadcasts internationally in English, saying the channel violated rules on fairness and accuracy.
Specifically, Ofcom said people had filed complaints against the channel saying it had aired forced confessions. One complaint was from a former British Consulate employee in Hong Kong who said he was arrested and tortured while being interrogated by Chinese police seeking information on recent Hong Kong protests. Another was from a British corporate investigator who claimed he was forced to confess while being held in China.
There were also questions about corporate structure.
Ofcom said the licensee, Star China Media Limited, did not have editorial control over the channel, which is a requirement under British law. Instead, Star China served merely as a distributor.
Ofcom added a plan to transfer the license to China Global Television Network Corporation was rejected because the application was missing “crucial information.” Furthermore, the body said CGNTC could not hold a license because it is “controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.”
According to the Associated Press, Ofcom says it gave CGTN time to comply, but that those efforts were “exhausted.” CGTN has not commented on the revocation.
“Following careful consideration, taking account of all the facts and the broadcaster’s and audience’s rights to freedom of expression, we have decided it is appropriate to revoke the license for CGTN to broadcast in the U.K.,” Ofcom said, according to the Associated Press.
Launched in 2016, CGTN claims to provide “global audiences with accurate and timely news coverage as well as rich audiovisual services, promoting communication and understanding between China and the world, and enhancing cultural exchanges and mutual trust between China and other countries.”
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Month: February 2021
NATO Chief Admits to ‘Challenging’ and ‘Difficult’ Relationship With Trump
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted Thursday the alliance had a “challenging” relationship with the Trump administration and that he had some “difficult” conversations with former U.S. President Donald Trump.During a joint news briefing with Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Stoltenberg was asked about his relationship with the Trump administration and whether he thought the alliance would survive it. Stoltenberg said despite the differences he and NATO may have had with the former U.S. president, those kinds of challenges are “what makes NATO strong.” He said the alliance has always enjoyed bipartisan support in the United States and that continues.The NATO chief added that NATO and the United States are doing more together now than they have done in many years.“We have more exercises, more U.S. troops, increased activities, European and North American allies together in Europe,” the NATO chief said. “So, I think the strength of the transatlantic bond is demonstrated by what you actually do.”Stoltenberg acknowledged that Trump’s insistence on NATO members increasing their defense budgets and playing a bigger role in supporting the alliance militarily made a difference. He said European allies have been stepping up, both in terms of military readiness and increased defense spending.Prime Minister Croo agreed and said that Europe has taken important steps toward self-reliance. “If we want to have more strategic autonomy for Europe, then we have to play our role,” he said.
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European Markets Mixed After Asia Slump
European markets were mixed Thursday amid continued volatility in the technology sector and caution over corporate earnings reports.
Britain’s benchmark FTSE index was down 0.3% at midday. The CAC 40 index in France was 0.1% higher, while Germany’s DAX index was up 0.2%.
Markets in Asia and Australia closed mostly lower earlier in the trading day. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index lost just over 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.6%, while Shanghai’s Composite index was 0.4% lower. The KOSPI index in South Korea plunged 1.3%, and Taiwan’s TSEC lost 0.4%
Mumbai’s Sensex finished the trading day 0.7% higher.
Australia’s S&P/ASX index fell 0.8%.
In commodities trading, gold was selling at $1,814.70, down 1.1%. U.S. crude oil was selling at $56.11 per barrel, up 0.7%, while Brent crude oil was 0.6% higher, selling at $58.82 per barrel.
All three major U.S. indices were trending higher in futures trading ahead of Wall Street’s opening bell.
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Wisconsin Prosecutors Seek Rittenhouse Arrest, Higher Bond
Prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday for a new arrest warrant for an Illinois teen charged with shooting three people, killing two of them, during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin after he apparently violated his bail conditions.
Kyle Rittenhouse failed to inform the court of his change of address within 48 hours of moving, Kenosha County prosecutors alleged in a motion filed with Judge Bruce Schroeder. The motion asks Schroeder to issue an arrest warrant and increase Rittenhouse’s bail by $200,000.
Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, countered in his own motion Wednesday that death threats have driven Rittenhouse into an “undisclosed Safe House.” Richards said he offered to give prosecutors the new address in November if they would keep it secret but they refused. He said Rittenhouse has stayed in constant contact with him.
Rittenhouse is charged with multiple counts, including homicide, in connection with the protests in August in Kenosha. The demonstrations began after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in the back during a domestic disturbance, leaving him paralzyed from the waist down.
Prosecutors allege Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, responded to a militia’s call on social media to protect Kenosha businesses from protesters. He opened fire with an assault-style rifle on Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskruetz. Rosenbaum and Huber were killed; Grosskruetz was wounded but survived.
Rittenhouse, who is white, fled to his home in Antioch, Illinois, but turned himself into police there the next day.
He has maintained he acted in self-defense after the three men attacked him. Conservatives have rallied around him as a symbol for gun rights and pushing back against anti-police protesters, although others insist he escalated tensions by walking around the protest with a gun.
Conservatives raised $2 million to cover his bail and he walked out of jail in November.
Last month Rittenhouse was seen drinking at a bar in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, and posing for photos with two men as they made “OK” signs with their hands, a symbol used by white supremacists, according to prosecutors. Five men at the bar also serenaded Rittenhouse with a song that has become the anthem of neo-fascist group the Proud Boys, prosecutors alleged.
Rittenhouse is now 18 but still too young to drink. However, he could consume alcohol in a bar under Wisconsin law because he was with his mother.
The judge ordered him not to have any contact with white supremacists after that episode.
Prosecutors wrote in their motion Wednesday that they learned Rittenhouse was no longer living at his Antioch address after the court mailed him a notice and it was returned as undeliverable on Jan. 28. Kenosha detectives traveled to the address on Tuesday and discovered another man had rented the apartment and had been living there since mid-December.
The prosecutors said in their motion that it’s unusual for any homicide defendant to be allowed to roam freely and the court needs to know where Rittenhouse is at all times. They did not say whether they knew where Rittenhouse currently resides, saying only that he has failed to provide the court with a new address.
“He posted no money so he has no financial stake in the bond,” they wrote. “He is already facing the most serious possible criminal charges and life in prison, so in comparison, potential future criminal penalties are insignificant.”
Richards, Rittenhouse’s attorney, argued in his motion that Rittenhouse and his family have received threats in various forms, the most recent of which came on Jan. 25. When Rittenhouse was released from jail in November, police told defense attorneys not to provide the safe house address, Richards said.
An attorney working with Richards, Corey Chirafisi, asked Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger via email on Nov. 30 if he could keep the safe house address sealed but Binger refused, according to Richards’ motion.
“It is noteworthy that the State has only now decided to file a motion to increase bond in this case, despite having corresponded with Attorney Chirafisi regarding the change in Kyle’s residence over two months ago,” Richards wrote.
Richards stressed that Rittenhouse has made all his court appearances and is in constant contact with him. He provided the safe house address to the judge as part of a separate motion requesting it be sealed.
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Australian Prime Minister Invites Biden Down Under
Australia’s prime minister said he invited President Joe Biden to visit in September during a very warm and engaging phone call between the two leaders on Thursday.
He sees the Australia-U.S. relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region,'' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.And that is true. We share that view. In terms of our relations between Australia and the United States, there’s nothing to fix there, only things to build on.”
The White House later said Biden described Australia as an anchor of stability in the Indo-Pacific and the world.''They also agreed to work together, alongside other allies and partners, to hold to account those responsible for the coup in Burma,” the White House statement said, referring to the country also known as Myanmar.
The leaders affirmed their commitment to working together to advance our shared values, global security and prosperity,'' it added. He told me he needs no special reason to come to Australia, he loves the place,” Morrison said.
Morrison invited Biden to visit Australia to mark the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, a defense agreement that once included New Zealand and was signed on Sept. 1, 1950.
Morrison said Biden reacted positively to the invitation.
But they (Biden and first lady Jill Biden) would very much like to be in Australia at some point, and we'll see how that progresses.''I think in the United States, Australia has, and remains to have, a very, very strong and effective partner on these issues of Indo-Pacific security,” Morrison said.
American presidents making the 15,900-kilometer (9,900-mile) flight between the two national capitals typically incorporate visits to Asia or Southeast Asian capitals.
Diplomatic travel has been virtually halted around the world by the coronavirus pandemic, but success in vaccinating people would allow for such trips to resume.
Australia has made exemptions to its own strict travel restrictions for important allies.
Australia's defense and foreign ministers highlighted the importance of the U.S. relationship by flying to Washington, D.C., for an annual bilateral meeting in July. They had to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks on their return.
Morrison's only overseas trip of the pandemic was to meet Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in November. He also had to quarantine on his return.
Morrison said his conversation with the president also covered the alliance the two nations share with Japan and India known as the Quad as well as the Five-Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership that includes, Canada, Britain and New Zealand. They also discussed the pandemic and climate change.
Morrison said he did not expect a change in U.S.-direction on China under the Biden administration.
The last U.S. president to visit Australia was Barack Obama.
Australia had an occasionally troubled relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration, with friction over an Obama-era deal for the U.S. to take Muslim refugees refused entry to Australia and differences over U.S. steel tariffs.
Australia’s then-Prime Minister John Howard was in Washington, D.C., marking the 50th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty when terrorists struck the Pentagon and New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
Australia responded by committing combat troops to the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
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Biden’s Executive Orders on Immigration Hint at Future Action
U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive orders this week reversing Trump administration immigration policies change little on the ground now but set the stage for future action, experts told VOA.It is a message Biden himself reinforced when he signed three orders Tuesday.“I want to make it clear — there’s a lot of talk, with good reason, about the number of executive orders that I have signed. I’m not making new law. I’m eliminating bad policy,” he told reporters.For now, immigrant rights advocates are signaling a wait-and-see approach as the new administration launches a process to review restrictive immigration policies implemented by Trump.“If there’s an existing regulation, and then there’s a process to go through to get rid of the regulation, some things are just going to take longer than others as a procedural matter,” Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Immigrants’ Rights Project, told VOA.Backers of the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives are warning of chaos at the U.S. southern border if policies return to what they were before Trump was in the White House.Task force to reunite separated familiesBiden’s first action ordered a task force to identify all migrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border under the previous administration’s “Zero Tolerance” policy for undocumented arrivals. It also instructed the task force to facilitate family reunification and examine whether those families are eligible for immigration relief under current immigration law.In 2018, the Trump administration directed U.S. attorneys to detain anyone who crossed the border illegally, breaking with long-standing U.S. policies to release most asylum-seekers pending their immigration court dates.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 11 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 30 MB1080p | 57 MBOriginal | 168 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioAt least 5,500 children were separated from their families in overcrowded detention facilities. While most have been reunited, several hundred children remain in U.S. custody while attempts continue to locate their parents or other family members, many of whom were deported to their countries of origin.ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said he is “pleased” with the creation of the task force but notes that the executive action does not address whether parents removed from the U.S. will be given humanitarian protections and allowed to come back to the United States to reunite with their children.Biden’s order asks for an initial report in 120 days — a time frame that does not satisfy Gelernt, who was the lead attorney in a 2018 class-action lawsuit the ACLU filed against the U.S. government over family separations.“Separated families need immediate action. They cannot wait 120 days for a task force to make recommendations,” he said. “These families deserve citizenship, care and resources. We hope the task force acts with urgency and look forward to working with it to reunite families and ensure that this never happens again.”Immigration attorneys said it should not take long before actual changes begin to happen under the new administration. But University of San Francisco law and migration studies professor Bill Hing said when it comes to family reunification, Biden needs to “offer more.”“Part of the remedy is that you let the people come (back) because it’s not just to get a visa, it’s to get services,” Hing said, adding, “They all need mental health services.”US border policiesBiden’s second order sets in motion a series of reviews, including the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, also known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which have forced tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to await U.S. immigration court dates on the Mexican side of the border.Though MPP has been suspended going forward, it remains unclear what will happen to people who have been placed in the program and are waiting in Mexico for their immigration court date.The Biden administration is also reviewing a possible relaunching of the Central American Minors Program.Before the Trump administration, foreign minors could be lawfully reunited with family members already living in the United States if they met certain requirements. Trump ended the program in 2017.“One of the things (in the executive order) is to try to expedite the reunification of family members rather than having a young person wait abroad for maybe one or two years while the normal paperwork is in process,” said New York-based Legal Aid Society immigration attorney Hasan Shafiqullah.Review of legal immigration restrictionsThe third executive action directs the State Department, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to reevaluate existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies and other agency actions taken in the last four years pertaining to immigration.Chief among them is the former administration’s expansion and enforcement of the public charge rule, which sets forth an immigrant’s likelihood to rely on public assistance programs as a criterion in assessing a permanent residency application.Biden’s order also calls for improving the U.S. naturalization process by reducing barriers and streamlining procedures.Immigration attorney L. Patricia Ice with the Mississippi Immigration Rights Alliance said the order is aimed at eliminating barriers and streamlining the existing naturalization process.“I think this is one of the important parts of this executive order, because it will make the naturalization process easier,” she said. “It will make it shorter, so that people who apply for naturalization won’t have to wait a year or more. I have had clients who have been waiting for a long time to get an interview.”Conservative reactionLora Ries, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, said in a statement that the executive orders are harmful and will undermine America’s immigration system.“America’s immigration policy should protect our borders, uphold our laws, and safeguard our values, but these immigration executive orders are just more evidence that the Biden administration is intent on implementing a radical immigration agenda that does none of those things,” she said.Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the orders “undercut bipartisan immigration solutions.”“The refusal to continue building the border wall and changing Trump asylum policies requiring migrants to wait in Mexico for their court date are formulas for disaster and will create massive future runs on the border,” he said.Immigrant advocates, by contrast, call Biden’s executive actions a much-needed starting point.“Things require additional agency action for process to take place. … It kind of sets out a broad framework and provides some guideposts but really leaves it to the (U.S.) agencies to fill it out right and figure out,” the ACLU’s Jadwat said.
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New COVID-19 Case Disrupts Australian Open Preparations
Strict COVID-19 measures are being reintroduced in the state of Victoria after a 26-year-old Australian Open hotel worker tested positive.Up to 600 tennis players, officials and support staff have been told to isolate and be screened, while warm-up matches for next week’s Grand Slam in Melbourne have been canceled. They must return a negative coronavirus test before they can resume their preparations for next week’s tournament.“About five [to] 600 people that are either players or officials and others who are casual contacts, they will be isolating until they get a negative test,” said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews. “So, it may have an impact on the lead-up event, but at this stage there is no impact to the tournament proper.”Andrews added that there was “no need for people to panic” because Victoria was adept at containing coronavirus outbreaks following a marathon four-month lockdown last year.Warm-up matches at Melbourne Park were suspended Thursday as a precaution.Australian player Nick Kyrgios says while he supports the decision, he believes some of his colleagues won’t.“I am not going to complain,” he said. “You know, it is not about me. My mum is incredibly sick. You know, [if] she gets COVID, then do you know what I mean, there is too much risk in all this. I do not understand why it is so hard for tennis players to understand, like, you are just a tennis player. It is not life and death like this is.”Restrictions also apply to the broader community in the state of Victoria. Masks are mandatory, and private gatherings in homes are limited to 15 people.Western Australia continues to face twin emergencies — a coronavirus lockdown and devastating bushfires — as residents in the state capital, Perth, enter their fourth day of a five-day lockdown. It was ordered after a worker at a quarantine hotel for Australians returning from overseas tested positive to coronavirus.State authorities in New South Wales said Thursday they had recorded no new community COVID-19 cases for the 18th consecutive day.Australia has recorded 28,829 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began, according to official government figures.
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British to See if Different COVID-19 Vaccines Can Be Used in Same 2-Dose Regimen
Testing began in Britain on Thursday to determine if different COVID-19 vaccines can be used together in a two-shot regimen.Researchers are aiming to inoculate more than 800 volunteers with one shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, followed either four or 12 weeks later with a booster shot of the vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, or vice versa.The vaccines were developed with different technology — the Pfizer vaccine through messenger RNA (mRNA), while the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is adenovirus viral vector, or common cold virus.Health officials say if two vaccines developed with different technology are able to be used interchangeably, it could allow greater flexibility in immunization campaigns around the world.In a related development, The Guardian newspaper says an analysis of Israel’s mass vaccination program has found that a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides 90% protection against the novel coronavirus by 21 days. Researchers at Britain’s University of East Anglia contradict an earlier study from Israel that suggested one dose may not give adequate protection.Meanwhile, Oxford University says its COVID-19 vaccine is 76% effective at preventing infection for three months after a single dose. The findings were part of the same study released Wednesday that found the vaccine cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds.The study has not been peer-reviewed, but Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the findings are “good news.””It does show the world that the Oxford jab works, it works well,” Hancock said.The vaccine has come under criticism from other nations in Europe in recent days with officials expressing concerns about the lack of data regarding its effectiveness in older people.Preparations for the Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of 2021, have been thrown into disarray after a worker at a quarantine hotel in Melbourne tested positive for COVID-19. The positive case prompted tournament organizers and local health authorities to order more than 500 players and support staff to isolate in their rooms until they are tested, and several warm-up tournaments that were scheduled for Thursday were canceled.The tournament was already off to a rough start after more than 70 players were placed in a strict 14-day lockdown after at least six people who arrived in Melbourne last month tested positive for COVID-19. The cases were linked to three of 17 charter flights that arrived in the southern city carrying more than 1,000 players and their entourages, plus tournament officials and media.The new COVID-19 case in Melbourne is the first confirmed infection in Victoria state in 28 days. City officials have reimposed an order for masks in indoor public places, as well as limits on the number of people who can gather indoors.Victoria state Premier David Andrews said in spite of the new positive case, the Grand Slam tournament will still begin next Monday as scheduled, but added there were “no guarantees.”
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Collector’s Daughter Returning Artifacts to Cambodia
After three years of negotiations with the late controversial art collector Douglas Latchford and his family, more than 100 Cambodian artifacts will be returned to Cambodia, according to the government.How Latchford, a British art collector and co-author of three books on Cambodian art and antiques, built his collection was a topic of art world speculation. He faced accusations of trafficking the artifacts to his homes in Bangkok and London. In November 2019, federal prosecutors in New York City charged Latchford with falsifying the provenance, invoices and shipping documents to transport valuable Khmer-era relics to private collections, museums and auction houses across the world.At the time, FILE – Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat ancient Hindu temple complex stands in Siem Reap province, some 230 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 28, 2012.The first shipment of five artifacts is expected to arrive in late February or early March. Cambodian authorities anticipate these will include a 10th-century sandstone sculpture of Hindu deities Shiva and Skanda, a 12th-century sandstone sculpture of Prajnaparamita – a female deity worshipped during the Khmer Empire – and a bronze statue of a male deity from the late 11th century.Kriangsak said she didn’t anticipate the complexity of the lengthy negotiations.“I am delighted that this complete collection, gathered over many decades, will be returned to their ancestral home in the Kingdom of Cambodia,” she said in the same Culture Ministry statement.In an interview with The New York Times published last week, Kriangsak skirted questions about the accusations and charges levelled against Latchford.“Despite what people say or accuse against Douglas, my father started his collection in a very different era, and his world has changed,” she FILE – Tourists visit the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia, March 14, 2018. Cambodia’s main tourist destination, Angkor Wat, was built between the 9th and 15th centuries.The indictment alleges that Latchford intentionally faked the provenance of antiquities that were the “product of looting, unauthorized excavation, and illicit smuggling” to encourage the sales and boost the prices of merchandise he was putting on the international market.United States federal law enforcement authorities worked with the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in 2020 to return two statues that were confiscated from an auction house in California in 2017. The U.S. and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding to place import restrictions on archaeological artifacts being taken out of the country.Hab Touch, secretary of state in charge of illicit trafficking and restitution at Cambodia’s Culture Ministry, said the government had negotiated with Douglas before he died last year.“We had worked with [Kriangsak’s] father for a long time,” he said. “His daughter had the willingness and intention to return what she has got from her father to Cambodia.”The official did not comment on the accusations and charges against Latchford.Thuy Chanthourn, who has researched Cambodian artifacts for 30 years, said many artifacts were lost most recently during the civil war in the 1970s and 1980 but also during the late 1800s and early 1900s.“Our ancient objects are not only with Douglas. There are many in Thailand, England, the U.S. and France. They are privately owned,” he said.The artifact researcher claimed that Latchford did not steal the artifacts himself but that they were trafficked to Thailand, which is one of the biggest markets for Cambodian relics.Vong Sotheara, a professor of history at the state-run Royal University of Phnom Penh, said numerous Cambodian artifacts remained in private collections, with many people having small museums to display their antiques.“The rich and millionaires spend their money buying authentic old objects from Cambodia as a hobby,” he said, adding that it was a long process to prove the provenance of these objects so they could be returned to Cambodia.
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Pricey Tokyo Games Accelerate Calls for Olympic Reforms
When Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics, organizers were jubilant. The event would serve as a public relations bonanza, showing the world Japan had overcome its long period of economic stagnation and the embarrassment caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.But things didn’t go exactly as planned — and not only because of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the games to be delayed by a year.There was the expensive proposal for Tokyo’s main Olympic stadium, which was ditched after being widely mocked for resembling an oversized bicycle helmet, an intergalactic spaceship, and a “turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away.”There was the original Tokyo Olympics logo, which had to be scrapped after accusations it plagiarized the emblem of a theater in Belgium.There was the president of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, who this week acknowledged he may have to resign following outrage over his recent comments that women talk too much in board meetings.And of course, there was the coronavirus postponement, which organizers say will cost nearly $3 billion.According to some estimates, Japan will have spent as much as $35 billion to host the games, smashing through the original $7.5 billion budget. Organizers contest the larger figure, saying many of those expenses are for projects not directly related to the games.But that’s of little comfort to some in Japan. According to several opinion polls, most Japanese citizens now want the games canceled or postponed, with many fearing a COVID-19 super spreader event.“This was a disaster in the making in the first place, even before COVID,” says Victor Matheson, a sports economist who focuses on the Olympics.The situation has added more urgency to calls for radical changes in how cities host the Olympics. Many now see the games as a debt trap for host cities, resulting in sports venues and other facilities that often lie vacant or are under-used when the games wrap up.“[Tokyo] is certainly one more nail in the coffin” for the way the games have been traditionally hosted, says Matheson, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. “But the coffin was pretty well-constructed here over the last five years.”Always over budgetAccording to a recent study from Britain’s Oxford University, the Tokyo Olympics are the most expensive summer games ever.But even when host countries aren’t tasked with figuring out how to host the games during a global pandemic, expenses consistently run out of control.The Oxford study found that every Olympics since 1960 has run over budget, at an average of 172%.A few infamous examples:In 1976, Montreal overspent its original budget by 720% and spent the next three decades paying it off, according to the Oxford study.The Athens 2004 Summer Games went double the initial budget and was frequently cited as contributing, at least in some part, to Greece’s wider financial crisis.The 2016 Rio de Janeiro games took place during the middle of an economic crisis so severe that Rio’s governor declared a state of emergency to secure funding for the event.Fewer countries biddingStories like that help explain the steady decline in the number of countries bidding to host the Olympics.The numbers are staggering: whereas the 2004 Olympics attracted 11 bids, that number dwindled to five for the 2020 event. For the 2026 games, there were just two candidates after a wave of countries pulled their bids.The bidding shortage was so severe that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the winner of the 2024 and 2028 games at the same time.“They were legitimately worried that no one was going to bid for the 2028 Olympics,” says Matheson.COVID debt crisisThe bidding crisis may not get better anytime soon, especially as governments deal with unprecedented pandemic-related debt.Global debt exploded over the past year, as governments aggressively stepped up stimulus spending to curtail the economic impact of the pandemic. According to an estimate by the Institute of International Finance, worldwide debt increased by over $17 trillion to an all-time high of $275 trillion last year.Once the coronavirus stimulus splurge slows, governments may become more frugal, the Oxford paper noted.“Post-COVID-19, the appetite and ability for governments to go into further debt or pay a subsidy to finance the Olympic Games will likely be low and the pressure to keep costs down will likely be high,” it concluded.Possible changesSo what can be done to fix things?One person with some suggestions is Andrew Zimbalist, author of Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup.Zimbalist, an economics professor, proposes naming permanent host cities for the summer and winter games — or if that wouldn’t work, designating several rotating sites.“That way you don’t have to rebuild the Olympic Shangri-La every four years to some other place in the world, which is financially and environmentally very costly,” he says.Zimbalist also says the IOC should contribute more money to cities hosting the games.For Tokyo, most of the bill will fall to Japanese taxpayers. (About $5.6 billion of the Tokyo budget is private money, including $1.3 billion from the IOC. The organization has also pledged another $650 million to support the postponement.)Another area of possible reforms, according to analysts, is TV revenues for the games, which overwhelmingly go to the IOC.“It used to be that the IOC shared the bulk of television revenue with the host city, some 70-80% of it,” Zimbalist says. “These days, they’re sharing close to 20%.”While the IOC sells the TV rights, Japanese organizers sell the tickets. That won’t help Japan much, especially if, as expected, few or no fans will be allowed at the games.IOC responseIn an email, the IOC defended its approach, pointing to recent reforms meant among other things to discourage host cities from building unnecessary Olympic venues.“Instead, competitions should be held in the most suitable existing facility, even if that means hosting events in different cities, regions, or countries,” the IOC email read.For the 2024, 2026, and 2028 games, more than 90% of the venues will be existing or temporary, the statement said.“Because the IOC is a non-profit organization, 90 percent of the revenues from the Games go straight back into sport and athlete development,” it added.For Tokyo, that may be too late, says Zimbalist.“They were hoping for a public relations boost from hosting the games. Maybe they can rescue some of that,” he says, but adds: “It’s pretty clear that the $30 (billion), $35 billion investment is going to waste, one way or another. There’s not much they can do about it.”
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Some Lawmakers, Experts Eye 14th Amendment to Bar Trump from Future Office
With the odds seemingly in favor of former President Donald Trump prevailing in his impeachment trial, a debate is brewing among legal scholars and some members of Congress over whether a once-forgotten provision of the U.S. Constitution can be used to bar the former president from holding federal office ever again. The provision is part of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Ratified in 1868, the amendment is best known for expanding the civil rights of American citizens and guaranteeing “equal protection” under the law. Its little known but hotly debated Section Three bars anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States or who has given “aid and comfort” to its enemies from holding office. Trump faces a single charge of “incitement of insurrection” for his alleged role in instigating his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6 to prevent the congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump. With 45 Republican senators challenging the legality of trying a former president, the chances that the Senate will convict and disqualify Trump from office remain slim. That will potentially leave Democrats with one untested constitutional tool for disqualifying a former president: the 14th Amendment. Section Three of the amendment gives Congress the power to enforce its provisions by “appropriate legislation.” This has led some legal scholars to argue that the Democratic-controlled Congress can pass a law by simple majority to bar Trump from holding office in the future. “Congress can immediately pass a law declaring that any person who has ever sworn to defend the Constitution — from Mr. Trump to others — and who incited, directed, or participated in the January 6 assault ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ and is therefore constitutionally disqualified from holding office in the future,” Deepak Gupta, a constitutional law expert, and Brian Beutler, editor-in-chief of Crooked Media, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times last month. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat and the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 2016, is among a handful of lawmakers proposing to use the 14th Amendment to prevent Trump from ever seeking federal office again. Kaine contends that Republicans would be more inclined to support invoking the 14th Amendment than convicting Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors.Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks during a hearing with the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee to examine the nomination of Miguel A. Cardona, of Connecticut, to be Secretary of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 3, 2021.“What I want to do is offer my colleagues an option to impeachment,” Kaine said at a news conference late last month. There are some complications, however. For instance, under the 14th Amendment, it is unclear who gets to decide whether a government official has engaged in an insurrectionist activity and merits disqualification. Some scholars argue that it is up to the courts, not Congress, to make the determination. “Section Three does not identify any mechanisms for determining whether an official has actually engaged in insurrectionist activities that would trigger the disqualification, and as a consequence it has not been used very much and it is not even clear what kind of mechanism would be constitutional,” said Keith Whittington, a Princeton University professor of politics. What is more, Whittington warned, allowing a simple majority of Congress to impose a lifetime ban on a former president could open a Pandora’s box. Once in control, Republicans could return the favor by voting to disqualify Democrats for expressing views on protests that turned into riots. “There is a great deal of obvious political risk in having the Congress just make such determinations by majority vote and potentially disqualifying from office members of the minority party with little evidence and through an entirely partisan political process,” Whittington said via email. Some top Democrats are not persuaded the 14th Amendment is the route to go.Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the majority whip, joined at right by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., takes a question at a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 2, 2021.Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said January 22: “I haven’t been convinced yet, because the 14th Amendment is not explicit on how you determine whether someone participated in an insurrection.” History Were it not for the January 6 Capitol riots, few outside legal circles would know about Section Three of the 14th Amendment. The provision was designed to bar former members of the Confederacy from holding high office, according to Gerard Magliocca, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. “After the 14th Amendment was ratified, Section Three was enforced for a period of about four years against various officials who were either in office or people who were elected to office and then were denied the right to take that office because they were seen as ineligible,” Magliocca said in an interview. Since the end of Reconstruction, the provision has been used only once, according to Magliocca. In 1919, Victor Berger, a socialist member of Congress from Wisconsin was disqualified and denied his seat after being convicted for his anti-war activities under the Espionage Act, a conviction that was later overturned by the Supreme Court. “The House of Representatives decided that [Berger’s antiwar stance] constituted giving aid and comfort to Germany and therefore that member was ineligible to serve,” Magliocca said. Post-January 6 debate For the next century and a half, the provision largely fell into oblivion. All that changed after January 6 when a mob of Trump supporters breached and vandalized the U.S. Capitol — leaving five people including a police officer dead and prompting the House of Representatives to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” In calling for Trump’s disqualification from office, the article of impeachment filed against him references Section Three of the 14th Amendment. However, the House Democratic prosecutors barely mention it in their pre-trial brief submitted to the Senate on Tuesday. That could mean House Democrats are keeping it as an option that they could use down the road, Magliocca said, adding that members of Congress are working on legislation related to the provision. If Congressional Democrats decide to invoke the 14th amendment in order to disqualify Trump, they could do two things, according to Magliocca. First, pass legislation establishing an enforcement mechanism for Section Three. This could be similar to the first Ku Klux Klan Act of 1870 that created a process for removing former Confederate officials from public office, Magliocca said. Second, pass a non-binding resolution finding Trump ineligible to hold office again and urging the courts to accept their verdict. “The former president would have every right to challenge any determination that he’s ineligible in court and pursue all his legal remedies all the way up to the Supreme Court,” Magliocca said.
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California Sex-trafficking Operation Arrests 64, Frees 2 Women
A human-trafficking sting that was focused on online prostitution led to the arrests of 64 people, California authorities announced this week.The Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force arrested 61 men and one female for solicitation of prostitution and two other men on other prostitution and solicitation charges January 24-28, authorities said in a statement released Tuesday.Task force officials said investigators set up stings at sites known for sex trafficking and targeted businesses that had previously been reported for illegal sexual activity.In addition to the arrests, task force officers found two women believed to be victims of sex trafficking who were being forced to engage in prostitution against their will.The arrests were part of an annual effort by local, state and federal authorities to combat sexual slavery and human trafficking in California, according to the statement.Last year, 518 people were arrested, while 87 victims, including 11 children, were recovered during the effort, it said.Human trafficking is a worldwide problem. The U.S. State Department and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have reported that between 25 million and 40 million people are trafficked around the globe each year.Many of those victims — 99% of whom are women or children — are being trafficked specifically for sex, according to the ILO. It also said about one in four victims of trafficking is a child.Trafficking also picks up during high-profile events that draw huge out-of-town crowds, such as this weekend’s Super Bowl, which is being held Sunday in Tampa, Florida.To prevent trafficking, the National Football League, which highlights local organizations at the Super Bowl site each year, has designated a community grant for the Hillsborough County Commission on Human Trafficking, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.Florida ranks third among U.S. states in volume of human trafficking victims, according to the Human Tracking Hotline.
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Eritrean Refugees Caught in Crossfire of Ethiopia’s Tigray War
They have survived gun battles, attempted abductions, attacks by angry militiamen and days-long treks to safety with nothing to eat but moringa leaves.Yet Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia fear their suffering may not be over, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed strains to end a brutal conflict in the northern region of Tigray that has rendered them uniquely vulnerable.Nearly 100,000 refugees from Eritrea, an oppressive, authoritarian nation bordering Ethiopia to the north, were registered in four camps in Tigray when fighting erupted in November between Abiy’s government and the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).Two of those camps, Hitsats and Shimelba, were caught up in hostilities and remain inaccessible to the United Nations refugee agency and its Ethiopian counterpart, the Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA).Hitsats and Shimelba camps, EthiopiaThe information vacuum has spurred dire speculation over the refugees’ fate.The United Nations has sounded the alarm over reported targeted killings and abductions by Eritrean soldiers, whose role in the conflict is widely documented but denied by officials in Addis Ababa and Asmara.The U.S. State Department last week cited “credible reports” of looting and sexual violence in the camps.On his first trip to Ethiopia since the conflict began, U.N. refugees chief Filippo Grandi over the weekend visited Mai Aini, one of two camps in southern Tigray where the U.N. has regained access.The camp is now home to hundreds of refugees from Hitsats, some of whom told AFP of the horrors they left behind.”Most of the people, if you search this camp, they’ll start crying when they talk about what happened,” said Girmay, who like other refugees insisted on using only one name, fearing reprisals.”Our friends could be alive or dead. We don’t know.”Aid urged for refugeesGrandi, at a news conference Monday in Addis Ababa, told reporters from VOA and elsewhere that he had pressed Abiy and other Ethiopian officials to safeguard Eritrean refugees. He urged them to account for refugees dispersed by the conflict –- either by force or out of fear –- and to ensure their protection. He repeated that Tigray’s humanitarian situation overall “is extremely grave,” and he called for Ethiopian officials to conduct a transparent investigation into alleged human rights abuses.Grandi also urged Ethiopia’s federal government to ensure the speedy delivery of humanitarian aid — food, medicine and other supplies — into Tigray.Ethiopia’s Minister of Peace Mufarihat Kamil, who traveled with Grandi to Tigray, leads a task force overseeing emergency aid and rehabilitation in the region. At a news briefing Wednesday, according to VOA’s Horn Service, she said the federal government has been delivering large amounts of grain and other necessities, prioritizing mothers and children age 5 or younger. She added that the government was coordinating with U.N. agencies and nongovernmental organizations to provide essential goods and services.The Norwegian Refugee Council’s secretary general, Jan Egeland, complained Monday that he had “rarely seen a humanitarian response so impeded” as the one in Tigray. But Dina Mufti, spokesperson for Ethiopia’s ministry of foreign affairs, said at a news briefing Tuesday that claims of limited access to humanitarian aid were “exaggerated,” according to VOA’s Horn Service.’They came and killed’The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics for almost three decades. It was in power when Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war that killed tens of thousands between 1998 and 2000 and led to a two-decade stalemate.After taking office in 2018, Abiy initiated a surprise rapprochement with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, a move that won him the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.Yet Isaias and the TPLF — whose region borders Eritrea — remain bitter enemies, heightening the risks for Eritrean refugees caught up in the conflict.Once fighting reached Hitsats in late November, pro-TPLF militiamen targeted refugees in reprisal killings after suffering battlefield setbacks against Eritrean troops, several refugees told AFP.On one morning, the militiamen shot dead nine young Eritrean men outside a church, they said.Pro-TPLF forces based themselves out of Hitsats for weeks, forbidding hungry residents from going out in search of food and shooting dead several who tried anyway.”At first we couldn’t believe it because they speak the same language as us,” Girmay said of the pro-TPLF forces. “Before we are friends. … Suddenly, they came and killed.”Eritrean soldiers also committed abuses, the refugees said, arresting dozens of people, likely more, and whisking them to an unknown destination.”The Eritrean soldiers caught some people and started asking them questions. I’ve counted 26 or 27,” one refugee said. “The next day they took them somewhere else. We don’t know where they are.”Many refugees fled Eritrea to avoid its notorious system of compulsory national service, which inspires descriptions of the nation as an “open-air prison,” and among their greatest fears is to be forced back.Ethiopia’s government is investigating abuses and will try to account for all of Hitsats’ pre-conflict population, which it estimates at around 11,000, said Tesfahun Gobezay, ARRA’s executive director.”With regard to Eritrean soldiers taking Eritrean refugees, we don’t have any solid evidence yet,” Tesfahun told AFP.’How can I feel safe?’Eritrean forces assumed control of Hitsats in early January and forced those remaining in the camp to evacuate, refugees said.”They threatened to kill us and people were afraid,” said one refugee now in Addis Ababa, who asked that his name not be used.Roughly 3,000 refugees from Hitsats and the other inaccessible northern camp, Shimelba, have since reached the two camps in southern Tigray, many traveling by foot with no water and only leaves for food.In Mai Aini, some new arrivals complained of poor access to clean water and of not having a place to sleep.But their biggest concern, shared by some longtime residents, was for their security, with several worrying that pro-TPLF militias could attack the camp despite an extensive federal military presence nearby.”How can I feel safe here?” said Natnael, who has lived in Mai Aini since he was a boy. “There are many militias around the camp.”ARRA’s Tesfahun said progress had been made in reestablishing basic services in the southern camps.He also said the camps were safe, though he added that “security is more of a feeling than reality, so they may feel that they are still insecure even if the reality shows otherwise.”‘Systematically targeted’It remains to be seen what has become of the two camps in northern Tigray that are still out of contact.Satellite imagery shows widespread damage to both, suggesting a campaign to destroy them, the British-based investigations firm DX Open Network said.”There are clear and consistent patterns across both camps over a two-month period demonstrating that these refugee camps were systematically targeted despite their protected humanitarian status,” it said in a statement.Well before the conflict, Abiy’s government made no secret of its goal to get rid of the northern camps and relocate the refugees.Tesfahun said the plan had been “sabotaged” by the TPLF, but that it was now “resuming.”This story originated in VOA’s Horn Service.
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Myanmar Internet Providers Block Facebook Services After Government Order
Internet providers in Myanmar, including state-owned telecom MPT, were blocking access to Facebook Inc.-owned services in the country on Thursday, days after military leaders seized power in a coup.A letter posted online by the Ministry of Communications and Information overnight said Facebook would be blocked until February 7 for the sake of “stability.”Some users in Myanmar reported they were not able to access several Facebook services.Network monitoring group NetBlocks confirmed state-owned telecom MPT, which says it has 23 million users, had blocked Facebook as well as its Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp services.Norway’s Telenor Asa said it had just blocked Facebook to comply with the directive.Facebook spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged the disruption.”We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information,” he said.Half of population affectedHalf of Myanmar’s 53 million people use Facebook, which for many is synonymous with the internet.”Currently, the people who are troubling the country’s stability … are spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding among people by using Facebook,” the ministry letter said.Telenor expressed “grave concern” about the directive, which it said had been received by all mobile operators and internet service providers on Wednesday.It said in a statement it was directing users to a message saying Facebook websites cannot be reached because of a government order.”While the directive has legal basis in Myanmar law, Telenor does not believe that the request is based on necessity and proportionality, in accordance with international human rights law,” it said.On Tuesday, the military warned against the posting of what it said were rumors on social media that could incite rioting and cause instability.U.N. human rights investigators have previously said hate speech on Facebook had played a key role in fomenting violence in Myanmar. The company has said it was too slow to act in preventing misinformation and hate in the country.This week, Facebook said it was treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency and taking temporary measures to protect against harm such as removing content that praises or supports the coup, according to a spokeswoman.
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Ex-Peace Corps Volunteers Plead With US for Help on Tigray
More than 350 former Peace Corps volunteers and a trio of former U.S. ambassadors have written to U.S. Congressional representatives urging them to condemn the violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, warning that “as the fighting ostensibly winds down, we are quite sure that the war will continue on a much more pernicious level.” The letter seen by The Associated Press also asks lawmakers to press for humanitarian aid to all parts of Tigray, and urge the United Nations to investigate and advocate for media access to the region “to document human rights abuses.” Communications links remain difficult to parts of the Tigray region of some 6 million people, and only a small number of former volunteers have reached friends there. But “we have avoided explicit discussions on what is occurring due to safety concerns and our acute awareness that the Ethiopian government is monitoring all calls,” Isabella Olson, a former volunteer who helped organize the letter, said in an email to the AP. FILE – Youngsters walk next to an abandoned tank belonging to Tigrayan forces south of the town of Mehoni, Ethiopia, Dec. 11, 2020.Ethiopia’s government has not responded to the letter, she said. The concern about monitoring has been echoed by Tigrayans and others in Ethiopia who say they have faced harassment and ethnic profiling since the conflict began. As the fighting enters its fourth month, international pressure increases on Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most-populous country and the anchor of the Horn of Africa, to allow the world to see the effects of the alleged massacres, widespread looting and destruction of health centers, crops and houses of worship. Starvation is now a growing concern. The fighting began in early November between Ethiopian and allied forces and those of the Tigray region who dominated the government for almost three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Each side now views the other as illegitimate. Ethiopia’s government on Wednesday rejected new reports citing Tigray opposition groups as estimating that 52,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict. The government said “we have not found ourselves with significant civilian casualties,” but it did not say how many people have died. The letter from former Peace Corps volunteers and diplomats urges lawmakers to remember that the strongest allies of the U.S. “are not simply constituted of politicians in Addis Ababa. They are also the students, teachers, farmers and healthcare workers that Peace Corps volunteers collaborated with in the urban and rural communities currently embroiled in turmoil.” Tigrayans reached by the AP in recent weeks have reported fear and exhaustion as the fighting continues and few know the fate of relatives elsewhere in the region. Meanwhile, Ethiopian senior officials have asserted to Biden administration staffers that life is returning to normal. “It just feels like it’s not my country anymore,” said Danait, a woman who felt her home in the regional capital, Mekele, shake when a nearby church was bombarded weeks ago. “It’s been like 90 days, and nothing is back to normal.” She gave only her first name out of concern for family members.
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Report to Congress: US Should Delay Complete Troop Pullout in Afghanistan
The United States should extend the May 1 deadline for pulling all its troops from Afghanistan and make force cuts contingent on progress in peace talks and by the Taliban in reducing violence and containing al-Qaida, a bipartisan report to Congress said Wednesday.Washington should not abandon the Afghan peace process, the report said. But conditions for its success will not be met by a May 1 deadline set in a 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement. Withdrawing all U.S. troops then could lead to civil war, destabilizing the region and reviving the al-Qaida threat, it said.The United States “should not … simply hand a victory to the Taliban,” said the Afghanistan Study Group report, reflecting criticism that the Trump administration conceded too much to the insurgents in a bid to end America’s longest war.Congress commissioned the group, whose co-chairs included retired Marine General Joseph Dunford, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, and former Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte.Dunford told reporters the report was shared with aides to President Joe Biden, including Zalmay Khalilzad, the peace negotiator kept on from the Trump administration, who “found it helpful.”State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration “plans to support” the peace process, and he noted that it was assessing the Taliban’s commitment to cutting ties to al-Qaida, lowering violence and engaging in peace talks.FILE – Relatives gather next to the coffin of a soldier after an ambush blamed on the Taliban killed at least 25 Afghan security force personnel as spiraling violence imperils ongoing peace talks, in Takhar province, Oct. 21, 2020.Drawdown orderedFormer President Donald Trump ordered a drawdown to 2,500 U.S. soldiers by last month, even as violence surged, U.S. officials accused the Taliban of maintaining ties with al-Qaida, and intra-Afghan peace talks stalled. The Taliban say al-Qaida fighters are no longer in Afghanistan and have also indicated that they will resume attacks on foreign forces if they remain past May 1.U.S. policy should be revised to help ensure that the peace talks in Doha between the Taliban and a delegation that includes Afghan government officials produce a durable settlement to decades of war, the report said.”Achieving the overall objective of a negotiated stable peace that meets U.S. interests would need to begin with securing an extension of the May deadline,” said the report, urging an “immediate” U.S. diplomatic push to rally regional support for a delay.An extension would let the Biden administration revise policy, and it would also give Washington time to restructure U.S. civilian aid and offer Kabul incentives “to play a constructive role” in the peace efforts and advancing women’s and minority rights.The February 2020 U.S.-Taliban deal made the U.S. withdrawal contingent on ground conditions and on the Taliban’s ending the hosting of al-Qaida fighters and halting the group’s “recruiting, training and fundraising.”
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Will Republicans Remain the Party of Trump?
Donald Trump is no longer in the White House, but the former U.S. president’s influence is still keenly felt on Capitol Hill, where the January 6 rioting by his supporters has created deep divisions within the Republican Party.House Republicans planned to meet Wednesday to decide the futures of two members of their caucus on opposite sides of the debate over Trump: Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking Republican leader in the House, and freshman Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has expressed support for far-right conspiracy views, including those of QAnon.At issue is whether to strip the pro-Trump Greene of her committee assignments and whether to remove Cheney from the Republican leadership team for her vote to impeach Trump. Those decisions will force a reckoning on whether Republicans remain loyal to Trump and his supporters or move away from his influence.Ten House Republicans voted with Democrats January 13 to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month. Cheney, the only woman on her party’s leadership team, was the highest-ranking Republican to vote for impeachment. She released a statement so strongly condemning Trump that it was cited by Democratic House impeachment managers in their trial brief.FILE – Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2019.’Never been a greater betrayal’“None of this would have happened without the President,” Cheney wrote in a January 12 statement assigning blame for the riot at the Capitol that left five people dead, including a police officer, and temporarily stopped the counting of Electoral College votes that showed Democrat Joe Biden the winner of the November election.“The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” she said.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — who voted along with 146 other Republicans in favor of overturning the Electoral College results on January 6 — has been careful to not call for Cheney’s removal nor to support what she called a “vote of conscience.” Instead, he told cable network CNN last month that she “has a lot of questions she has to answer.”McCarthy has also been meeting privately with Greene to discuss Democrats’ outrage following the revelation of her social media posts advancing numerous conspiracy theories about the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and mass school shootings, as well as her liking a Facebook post calling for the execution of Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.Greene has said her social media posts are managed by several people and that she does not see all of them. In a Tweet Wednesday, Greene responded to these allegations, writing that Democrats “are only set out to destroy Republicans, your jobs, our economy, your children’s education and lives, steal our freedoms, and erase God’s creation.” Earlier this week, Greene said she had spoken with Trump and had his continuing support.FILE – Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, wears a “Trump Won” face mask as she arrives to take her oath of office as a newly elected member of the U.S. House, in Washington, Jan. 3, 2021.Democrats’ moveHouse Democrats, who control the chamber, have taken the unusual step of filing a resolution that would strip Greene of her committee assignments, denying her one of the most important responsibilities a lawmaker can fulfill.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland announced Wednesday that the full House would vote Thursday on removing Greene from those assignments. “I spoke to Leader McCarthy this morning and it is clear there is no alternative to holding a floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committee assignments,” Hoyer said in a statement.The freshman Georgia lawmaker cannot be ousted from her congressional seat, but the Democrats could unite to deny her committee assignments.This push by the Democrats to punish Greene has put McCarthy in a tough position. He has to decide whether to stand by Greene, whom Trump has praised as a “rising star” in the party, or punish her in response to demands from Democrats and some in his own party.Similarly, McCarthy appears to be struggling to determine whether to back Cheney in the face of growing Republican criticism of her impeachment vote or support removing her from her party leadership position while she remains a House member.FILE – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 12, 2020.Trump impeachment trialThe controversies over Greene and Cheney come as the Senate is poised to begin an impeachment trial of Trump, who has been accused of inciting the insurrection at the Capitol. Trump is the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice and will be the first to undergo an impeachment trial after leaving office.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, took the unusual step of commenting on House matters earlier this week, not naming Greene in a statement but saying “loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country.”Describing the Capitol riot last month, McConnell said, “The mob had been fed lies by the president and other powerful people.” A conviction of Trump in the Senate trial is unlikely since 17 Republicans in the chamber would need to vote along with all 50 Democrats to reach the two-thirds majority needed. Last week, 45 of the 50 Senate Republicans voted in favor of a resolution calling the impeachment trial of a former president unconstitutional.
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UN Chief: ‘Unacceptable’ Myanmar Coup Must Fail
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that the United Nations would work to mobilize key international actors to pressure Myanmar “to make sure” that the country’s military coup fails.“It is absolutely unacceptable after elections — elections that I believe took place normally. And after a large period of transition, it is absolutely unacceptable to reverse the result of the elections and the will of the people,” the U.N. chief told an online discussion with FILE – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, seized power Monday, declaring a yearlong state of emergency and detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, among others.The coup took place following days of tension between the military and the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the November elections. The Tatmadaw has refused to accept the results, alleging massive election fraud.Guterres said if anything, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi “was too close to the military,” defending its brutal offensive against Rohingya Muslims that caused nearly a million of them to flee to neighboring Bangladesh three years ago.“I hope that democracy will be able to make progress again in Myanmar,” Guterres said. “But for that, all the prisoners must be released, the constitutional order must be reestablished, and I hope that the international community will be able to come together.”Charges filedEarlier Wednesday, authorities in Myanmar filed charges against Aung San Suu Kyi for allegedly illegally importing and using six unregistered walkie-talkie radios found during a search of her home in the capital, Naypyitaw.FILE – A Myanmar migrant holds up an image of Aung San Suu Kyi during a demonstration outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, Feb. 1, 2021, after Myanmar’s military detained her, the country’s de facto leader, and the country’s president in a coup.Her NLD party said on Facebook that she has been ordered held for two weeks. It also said authorities had raided party offices in multiple regions of the country.Win Myint was separately charged with violating coronavirus containment measures while campaigning for last November’s election.In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. was “disturbed” by reports of the new charges.“We call on the military to immediately release them all, and all the civilian and political leaders, journalists and detained human rights activists. And to restore the democratically elected government to power, as President Biden has said the military seizure is a direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law,” Price said.On Tuesday, the State Department made the legal determination that the military’s actions constituted a “coup,” triggering certain restrictions on foreign assistance to Myanmar.Top administration officials have said the United States “will take action against those responsible A police officer guards closed doors of National League for Democracy party offices, decorated with pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi, right, flanked by party patron Tin Oo, in Mandalay, Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2021.”We are deeply concerned by the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and targeting of the media,” the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said in a statement.”The November election results must be respected, and Parliament should be convened at the earliest opportunity,” they added.Workers at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns held a work stoppage to protest the coup, while a new group, the Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement, criticized the army for putting its own interests before the people’s.Troubled historyMyanmar, also known as Burma, has long struggled between civilian and military rule, but until the coup it had been enjoying a hopeful transition to democracy.A British colony until 1948, the country was ruled by military-backed dictators from 1962 until 2010.A soldier stands guard at a checkpoint next to a military propaganda billboard in Mandalay, Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2021.An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the NLD won in a landslide. But the elected members of Parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued.Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s assassinated independence hero, General Aung San, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest.In 2010, Senior General Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the NLD, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected in a 2012 by-election and later became the state counselor of Myanmar.While popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.In 2017, an army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine State, led hundreds of thousands of them to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, where they remain.The International Criminal Court is investigating Myanmar for crimes against humanity.VOA’s Margaret Besheer and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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Russia Ups Legal Pressure on Foreign Media Outlets
At an appeals hearing Tuesday, Russian prosecutors accused journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva of being a “mouthpiece of the West” as the court upheld her conviction of “justifying terrorism.” The hearing came amid a wider backdrop of Moscow taking legal action against her employer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A Russian court last month fined the independent U.S.-funded news network for not complying with its foreign agents law. Russia’s use of legal action against RFE/RL is an attempt to cut off access to independent media, media and regional analysts say. Moscow has been “building a web of laws and restrictions non-stop against RFE,” said Thomas Kent in an interview with VOA’s Russian service. Kent was president of the network from 2016 to 2018. The fines against RFE/RL are a sign that Russia is implementing those laws, Gulnoza Said, from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told VOA. FILE – The headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is seen with the United States, RFE/RL and the Czech Republic flags in the foreground, in Prague, Jan. 15, 2010.The network was fined 1.1 million rubles ($14,400 USD) last month for not complying with Russia’s newly revised foreign agents law. The fines were directed at the general director along with RFE services, including Radio Liberty and the Russian-language TV network Current Time that the produces with VOA. Current Time is a 24/7 television and digital network for Russian speakers, led by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in cooperation with Voice of America. Under amendments to the law last year, outlets receiving international funding must label their content as produced by “foreign agents.” RFE/RL is an independent grantee of the U.S. Agency For Global Media, which also oversees VOA. Both receive funding from Congress but are editorially independent. Russia’s decision to add further provisions to its law was criticized by international rights groups including Amnesty International, who in a FILE – Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva, charged with publicly justifying terrorism, arrives for a court hearing in Pskov, Russia, July 6, 2020.In Prokopyeva’s case, the appeals hearing reflected a wider trend of Russian authorities using legal action against independent voices, media analysts said. The journalist was convicted last year of “justifying terrorism” — a charge upheld by the military appeals court Tuesday. The accusations stem from comments Prokopyeva made in an interview about a suicide bombing. When the lower court convicted Prokopyeva, it fined the journalist and confiscated her equipment. At the time, RFE/RL’s acting president, Daisy Sindelar, condemned the lower court’s decision, saying, “The portrayal of her words as ‘justifying terrorism’ is a deliberate and politically motivated distortion aimed at silencing her critical voices.” Said told VOA the appeal verdict was disappointing. CPJ awarded Prokopyeva last year with its International Press Freedom Award. “It’s so emblematic of how Russian authorities treat journalists, not just those who work for outlets like RFE/RL that are funded from abroad, but any journalists, including those working for local media who dare to criticize the authorities, or even say something that’s not in line with the Kremlin narrative,” Said told VOA. Russian authorities see Western reporting as an attempt to interfere in Russian affairs and don’t like its positions on human rights and press freedom, Said added. “Some of them probably very sincerely believe that the West has an agenda of destroying (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime by having RFE/RL report on various issues, including corruption,” she said. Kent shared a similar view, saying attempts to obstruct reporting “comes down to the government feeling that it has the right to decide what information Russian people receive and that the Russian people are not competent to figure out themselves.” VOA’s Misha Gutkin contributed to this report.
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Biden to Set Foreign Policy Tone in Thursday Remarks
U.S. President Joe Biden will set the tone for his foreign policy vision during his first major speech at the State Department on Thursday.While his remarks may not outline the specifics of a new U.S. approach to foreign adversaries including China, North Korea, Russia and Iran, Biden is expected to lay out his vision to ramp up outreach to allies to confront common global challenges.Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing that Biden would speak broadly but would not offer specifics on foreign policy. Psaki said the U.S. president believes the United States must work closely with allies on China.State Department spokesman Ned Price echoed that sentiment during a press briefing later in the day.”Our policy has not changed,” he told reporters, adding that policy is guided by the U.S.’s “One China policy.”FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken removes his face mask as he arrives to hold his first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, Jan. 27, 2021.In response to a question from VOA, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters last week that the relationship between the U.S. and China was “arguably the most important relationship that we have in the world going forward.”ChinaBiden’s Thursday speech comes as the U.S. ponders a new approach to China, a policy characterized by “strategic patience,” Psaki said in a White House press briefing January 25.White House Says US Seeks ‘New Approach’ with China China challenges US security, prosperity and values, Biden spokesperson says How to handle supply chain and intelligence threats from China is among the top priorities of the administration. It has been reported that Biden is soon expected to sign an executive order to review U.S. supply chains, with a focus on coronavirus relief suppliers from foreign competitors.”We know that China is engaged in a range of conduct that hurts American workers. It blunts our technological edge, it threatens our alliances and influence in international organizations, and China is engaged in gross human rights violations that shock the conscience,” the State Department’s Price said this week.“So we will counter China’s aggressive and coercive actions, sustain our key military advantages, defend democratic values, invest in advanced technologies and restore our vital security partnerships,” he added.RussiaThe new U.S. president has spoken by phone with several foreign leaders since taking office, including officials from traditional U.S. allies and Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the call to Putin, the White House said, Biden raised contentious issues such as the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, as well as Moscow’s cyber-espionage campaign, while seeking common ground by agreeing to extend a landmark nuclear arms deal with Russia.Wednesday, the U.S. and Russia announced they had extended the New START arms control treaty for five years, pursuing arms control between the world’s two largest strategic nuclear arsenals.“We remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses to the United States and the world,” Blinken said in a statement.He added the U.S. would “work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners.”MyanmarAlso Wednesday, the U.S. said it was “disturbed” by reports that ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was charged following the military’s coup on Monday.Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Charged With Illegally Importing Walkie-Talkies De-facto leader detained after military seized power on Monday”We are aware of reports that State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint have been charged with crimes and the National League for Democracy members of Parliament have been ordered to vacate laptops,” said Price during Wednesday’s State Department press briefing.“We call on the military to immediately release them all, and all the civilian and political leaders, journalists, and detained human rights activists, and to restore the democratically elected government power, as President Biden has said the military seizure is a direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law.”
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Birds From Chad and Nigeria Destroying Farmland, Cameroon Says
Authorities in Cameroon say millions of weaver birds have decimated thousands of hectares of farmland on the northern border with Chad and Nigeria. Farmers say between the birds, elephant attacks and floods, the area is on the verge of famine.Illiasu Issa, farmer in Waza, Cameroon, Feb. 3, 2021. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)In an effort to scare away the birds, youths assemble in millet farms in the northern town of Waza everyday to beat drums, dishes and pots, says 23-year-old farmer Illiasu Issa. He says schoolchildren are only allowed to return to class when the birds leave. Issa says everyone must pitch in to scare away the small, dark weaver birds that have already destroyed at least 600 hectares of farmland in and around Waza.Children beat dishes to scare birds in Waza, northern Cameroon, Feb. 3, 2021. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Ibrahim Mohamed, the mayor of Waza, says his council cannot afford to hire aircraft that experts have told him are needed to chase away the giant flocks of birds. He says all he can do is provide a meal each day for the hundreds of youths struggling to save their farms. Ibrahim Mohamed, mayor of Waza, Feb. 3, 2021. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Millet is the main source of livelihood for the close to 50,000 people of Waza district. Mohamed says farmers export the millet to Chad, Nigeria and southern Cameroon industrial towns like Douala and Yaounde. He says if the government of Cameroon fails to help farmers chase the birds with helicopters and planes, then poverty and famine will strike in the months ahead. Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon’s Far North region where Waza is located, says the weaver birds are one of several factors threatening food safety in northern Cameroon. Last month, rampaging elephants destroyed maize and sorghum fields and left hundreds of people homeless. In August, the area was hit by floods. Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of the Far North Region of Cameroon, Feb. 3, 2021. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Bakari says people in the area need help. The last time such an attack by weaver birds was reported in northern Cameroon was over 30 years ago, he added. Bakari has requested help from the central government in Yaounde to protect crops that have not yet been destroyed by the birds. Waza villagers say after the last weaver bird attack 32 years ago, the government sent food aid which was largely insufficient for their needs. They were also given fertilizers and seeds to plant new crops, but they remained poor until the next millet harvesting season.In addition to the immediate threat to food safety, Bakari says it is imperative for children who are returning to school after several years of absence due to Boko Haram terrorism not be distracted.
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UN Report: Violations Against South Sudan Children Decline but Still Occur
A U.N. report says the number of grave violations committed against children in South Sudan has significantly decreased since the 2018 peace deal was signed, but violations continue.The report says the U.N. verified “grave violations” affecting 618 children across the country from July 2018 to June 2020, with Central Equatoria state seeing the greatest number of victims.By contrast, from October 2014 to June 2018, the U.N. verified grave violations against more than 9,200 children in South Sudan. Violations included recruitment into armed groups, killing and maiming, sexual violence including rape, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access.“In the previous period up to 2017, I would say that violations against children in South Sudan were the second- or third-highest number of violations in all our docket, and we covered 21 countries. So you can imagine it was very, very high,” Virginia Gamba, special representative of the secretary-general on children in armed conflict, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.Children released from fightingThe report also notes that more than 2,000 children were released from the ranks of armed forces — both from the South Sudan army and the rebel SPLA-IO — in 2018 and 2019.The U.N. official traveled to South Sudan to engage parties who were negotiating the September 2018 peace deal. Gamba said her team “intervened early” to make sure child protection provisions were included in the soon-to-be-signed Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.FILE – Young boys sit with their rifles Pibor, South Sudan, Feb. 10, 2015.“The specific provisions are very simple. It basically says that during the discussions of the peace agreement and before even the peace agreement was signed, consideration must be given to what would happen to children that are currently associated with armed groups,” Gamba told VOA. She said she pressed for the release of the children and for them to be handed over to reintegration offices run by UNICEF.She said it was encouraging to see fewer grave violations committed against children in the most recent report.“We can see a continued decrease between 2018 and 2019 because of these peace discussions, the peace agreement that was being created, plus the decision of the government to enter into a signed action plan with us to end and prevent all six violations,” said Gamba.Even though language was included in the peace deal about child protection and the parties signed the joint action plan to end all grave violations in January 2020, Gamba said the parties must do more to make sure all the provisions are fully implemented.”And in a country that is devastated, it’s very hard to both implement as well as to follow through and oversee that process, so a lot that needs to be done is actually implementing what was agreed. That’s one item that still is very much pending. We are seeing progress but not fast enough,” Gamba told VOA.More violenceGamba said a recent uptick in intercommunal violence in South Sudan might also increase the potential for violations against children committed by nonstate actors.She urged all donor governments and the U.N. Security Council to provide resources to prevent further violations against children and to offer more child protection services in South Sudan.”The more children are released, the more children are safe from conflict in South Sudan, the more they will need rehabilitation and reintegration, facilities and services to be provided to them. And these are resources. Without those resources, the risk of re-recruitment or the risk of crime increases considerably,” Gamba said.
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Czech Republic Passes 1 Million COVID-19 Cases
The Czech Republic health ministry reported Wednesday the nation passed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The agency also reported that the day-to-day increase in new infections reached 9,057 since Tuesday, which puts the nation over the one-million mark for confirmed cases since the first three cases were detected March 1, 2020. The current figures show the nation has the third-highest rate of infection in Europe, with more than 981 cases per 100,000 people, trailing only Portugal and Spain. The Czech Republic death rate is also among the highest in Europe, at nearly 205 per 100,000 people. The ministry reports the country of 10.7 million has registered 16,683 deaths. Although daily increases dropped after they reached a record high of almost 18,000 in early January, they have stagnated in recent days at still dangerously high levels despite a strict lockdown. Currently, 93,043 people are ill with COVID-19 in the Czech Republic. Of them, 5,811 are hospitalized while 1,002 are in intensive care.
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Russia Cracks Down After Navalny Sentencing
Russian human rights monitors say authorities have arrested at least 1,400 protesters in Moscow after a court sentenced opposition politician Alexey Navalny to serve out the remaining time of a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence in a prison colony. The decision Tuesday came just weeks after Navalny returned to Russia following a poisoning attack that nearly took his life. For VOA from Moscow, Charles Maynes reports.
Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montanana
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